Alpha's Week 1 recap and film review

[Alphadawg7]

1 minute ago, Avisan said:

@Alphadawg7I thought I noticed Dawson Knox get abused as a blocker on the line on a couple of plays, as in complete whiffs.  We're you looking at that at all in your TE watch-through?

 

To be honest, I did not hyper focus on Knox as I just don't have enough time to really do that for every player on both sides of the ball.  So I didn't catch anything that I noticed where I would say it was a bad play, but that doesn't mean none happened either.  He made a huge play when we needed it on his grab and I did see some nice blocks from him. 

 

But I did watch Kincaid more to try and see how AZ was playing him, and why despite leading the team in snaps only got the one catch.  And what I was most impressed from Kincaid from is that he sold his routes well, even on runs, and at least for this one game he was much improved as a blocker.  

 

 

[Kirby Jackson]

1 hour ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

The TE's were fine.  See...you need to watch film and not google box scores.  You aren't getting actual context nor are you properly evaluating their jobs on the field.  

 

Do this all year?  You are the one coming at me here.  You want to stick to your guns about your negative opinion on the group, totally fine, its one game, it proved nothing.  But I watched their film, and I graded based on the film.  You googled a box score and then accused me of issuing a "fake grade" off that fake analysis.  So please, don't tell me "I don't want to do this all year" when you are the one doing this lol.  

 

I provided my honest opinion on what I saw...you don't have to agree with it.  

 

Oh yeah, me the box score googler 😂😂😂. I’ve been called out for a lot of things on here but this is the first time I’ve been called out for not paying enough attention 😂😂.
 

For context, Gabe vs. KC was an “A+” performance. You don’t get an “A” with 1 catch for 11 yards as the number one option. In the words of Sean McDermott, “the standard is the standard.” 
 

I thought Cook played a nice game Sunday. The design of the run game wasn’t perfect but he made the most of those chances. He averaged 3.7 YPC. That’s not an A-!! An A- is like 25 carries for 105 and a TD. 

 

This game was a game where people did what they needed to, and Josh made every play that had to be made. The offense played well. They did their job. Outside of Josh, no one was above and beyond (Dawkins was next). We shouldn’t be popping champagne for doing the job at a decent level. 
 

This just doesn’t feel like an A-:

 

 

Edited September 10 by Kirby Jackson

[Augie]

42 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

Each is entitled to their opinion but the Bills did not turn in an “A” performance. Keep in mind they only won by 6 and there was a chance for th Cards to win on some last minute heroics. I am happy for the win and the chance to move on.  

 

Overall, the Bills at best played a B- game.  Let’s be real, they really did not look that good.

 

I’d say we were very fortunate to be playing the Cardinals. It was a little gift from the schedule gods to give us something like a preseason to work out kinks. They didn’t blow me (or the Cards) away, but I’m looking forward to seeing them grow from here. 

[MPL]

What I'm hearing here is that we need some kind of grading rubric? Or is that too much for a sports message board?

[GASabresIUFan]

7 minutes ago, mannc said:

Read what I wrote again... 

and I answered you.  At 4 straight bad games you may consider benching him.  However, by asking when to consider benching him, implies that you think a benching maybe appropriate sooner than later.   

 

I doubt Torrence gets benched at all.  We lived through Brown's development, including some very bad games and McD will give Torrence that same opportunity.  

 

PS: The guys behind him have even less real game NFL experience than he does unless they elevate Clapp into the lineup.  Right now Anderson, who is playing Jumbo TE, is the 6th OL, like Edwards was last year.

Edited September 10 by GASabresIUFan

[YattaOkasan]

Just now, GASabresIUFan said:

and I answered you.  At 4 straight bad games you may consider benching him.  However, by asking when to consider benching him, implies that you think a benching maybe appropriate sooner than later.   

 

Torrence gets benched at all.  We lived through Brown's development, including some very bad games and McD will give Torrence that same opportunity.  

 

PS: The guys behind him have even less real game NFL experience than he does unless they elevate Clapp into the lineup.  Right now Anderson, who is playing Jumbo TE, is the 6th OL, like Edwards was last year.

Anderson was rough too.  Saw him whiff in the Jumbo set at least once.  Im hoping Kromer is just tinkering with Torrence and he takes a small step back while he tries to incorporate the new approaches.  My reason for optimism is he seems to be making attention mistakes (false start, not realizing cook stepped up to the A gap for pass pro) but is still really engaged with the team.  The conditioning is tough too cause its always gonna be something to watch.  He started playing football to keep his weight down.  So it can be a struggle so not sure if this normal or a concern basically.

[Alphadawg7]

Given so much talk has come about regarding my receiver grade, let me provide a single example of what I am talking about when I said they earned their A grade.

 

This is the Shakir TD, and I just went to Twitter to get the clip where it shows all the replay angles so you can see all the great team play on this TD.  Ironically the person posting this also is pointing out all the people around Shakir like Hollins making key plays for this TD to be possible.  

 

You will see Hollins just wipe out the Nickel off the snap.  Coleman blocks his guy all the way into the endzone to keep him from coming up and stopping the TD.  Dawkins just destroys the safety.  All these things led to Shakir's doing what he does best and utilizing his YAC and strength to get this all the way to the endzone.

 

This is what an A+ performances look like that you don't find on stat sheets or fantasy football scores.  And this is not an isolated play, this was happening all over the field on passes and runs.  This play does not happen if any one of those blocks don't happen.

 

If people don't think this is valuable and deserves to be part of a players grade, then I will just have to say let's agree to disagree.  These are things that earn a guy like Davis a game ball against Dallas when he had 0 targets and no stats but still heavily impacted the game.

Edited September 10 by Alphadawg7

[Royale with Cheese]

If the Bills and Chiefs keep winning and scoring without that bonafide #1 WR....you might see a trend in declining WR contracts.  

I think the very top elite guys like your top 3 will still get paid but I think it drops after that.  An elite QB and elite WR contracts eat up so much cap....you're never cutting the QB's contracts.  

 

I don't think it's going to be like RB's now but you're going to see more of the shorter term contracts like Samuel's.  

[Kirby Jackson]

45 minutes ago, Prospector said:

Did the grades go in the official grade book yet? These must be super serious grades to you. Don't want incorrect grades to inflate their transcripts.

Omg, hilarious!!!!!  😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

 

This place is just better when people are honest. I’ve said that for years. We are giving the WRs, who played well, an A+ for 151 yards. We are giving the TEs, who had 2 catches, an A. We are giving the RBs, who averaged 3.8 YPC an A-. I am not going to apologize for holding them to a higher standard. Everyone did their job and Josh made the plays to win the game. 
 

To be clear, no one was particularly bad but this isn’t the game to celebrate their performance. They did the job. Gabe at KC was an A+. This didn’t look like that… It was fine. They did well. 

Edited September 10 by Kirby Jackson

[GASabresIUFan]

1 minute ago, Royale with Cheese said:

If the Bills and Chiefs keep winning and scoring without that bonafide #1 WR....you might see a trend in declining WR contracts.  

I think the very top elite guys like your top 3 will still get paid but I think it drops after that.  An elite QB and elite WR contracts eat up so much cap....you're never cutting the QB's contracts.  

 

I don't think it's going to be like RB's now but you're going to see more of the shorter term contracts like Samuel's.  

I was thinking about this as well and if what the Bills and GB are doing works, then plug and play WRs will come into vogue.  The Chiefs have cycled through a ton of WRs in this era.  You might say they already do what the Bills are now doing except their passing offense runs through Kelce.  I will say that Rice, despite recent legal issues, is beginning to look like Mahomes' go to receiver.  IMHO, Shakir is headed to that designation for the Bills.

[GunnerBill]

32 minutes ago, Avisan said:

@Alphadawg7I thought I noticed Dawson Knox get abused as a blocker on the line on a couple of plays, as in complete whiffs.  We're you looking at that at all in your TE watch-through?

 

There was definitely one where he slipped and whiffed as a result. He slid past the play.

[Sweats]

I think your grades are pretty fair.

The WR's did their job, the RB's got whatever available yardage they could, the TE's (although not overly exerted) did what was asked for blocking schemes and a couple of critical catches and JA?.....well, that boy is a flat-out baller and if you **** around, you're gonna find out.

 

The D was dismal in the 1st half, but turned it on in the 2nd.

 

ST's is a nightmare.

[GASabresIUFan]

18 minutes ago, Kirby Jackson said:

We are giving the WRs, who played well, an A+ for 151 yards.

Yes we are and they deserve it.  They can only run the routes that Brady and the offense dictates.  They ran their routes, got open, caught 87% of their targets, added 59 yards after the catch, didn't fumble or drop passes, picked up 7 1st downs on 12 catches and added 2 TDs.  They also blocked well and had zero penalties.  What the f... more are they supposed to do?  Please tell us.

 

This isn't fantasy football and Brady doesn't run an offense that feeds any particular player.  His goal is to make it hard on defenses to stop the offense even if they try to take away any one receiver/TE/RB and give Josh the easiest reads to complete passes and move the chains.  We had 4 sustained drives of 50 yards or more and scored 4 TDs.   

Edited September 10 by GASabresIUFan

[RyanC883]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

One major disagreement - I think it actually was pretty close to a disaster for O'Cyrus. 3 pressures, 3 penalties, 2 bad missed assignments on run plays. He was really rough. He looks out of condition to me. Agree though it was otherwise a very strong day for the line. 

 

And one major agreement - for all the crap I have given him pre-season I thought Mack Hollins had a really good game. In all facets. He ran the route on the touchdown perfectly - he made it look simple but you gotta get the depth of your break just right there to make sure both that a) you are making it to the endzone and b) that you have the right leverage on the DB to box him out. But not only that he found soft spots in zones well even when not targetted and played an important role as a blocker. 

 

does Torrence look like he is regressing to you?  He does to me

[Kirby Jackson]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Yes we are and they deserve it.  They can only run the routes that Brady and the offense dictates.  They ran their routes, got open, caught 87% of their targets, added 59 yards after the catch, didn't fumble or drop passes, picked up 7 1st downs on 12 catches and added 2 TDs.  They also blocked well and had zero penalties.  What the f... more are they supposed to do?  Please tell us.

 

This isn't fantasy football and Brady doesn't run an offense that feeds any particular player.  His goal is to make it hard on defenses to stop any one receiver/TE/RB and give Josh the easiest reads to complete passes and move the chains.  We had 4 sustained drives of 50 yards or more and scored 4 TDs.   

If that was an A+, what was Gabe vs. KC?

[Alphadawg7]

2 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

There was definitely one where he slipped and whiffed as a result. He slid past the play.

 

It is going to be interesting to see how they handle Knox this offseason.  His cap hit is going to cause something to happen this offseason, and Kincaid looked much improved as a blocker at least this first week.  I wonder if Kincaid keeps showing he can be a better blocker and more complete TE than was say expected when we drafted him, it makes me curious to how they will view Knox this offseason.  I forget exactly what it is, but if I am not mistaken I think Knox cap hit next year is like $14M or something like that.  

[GASabresIUFan]

1 minute ago, Kirby Jackson said:

If that was an A+, what was Gabe vs. KC?

Inactive.

[MJS]

1 hour ago, Kirby Jackson said:

WRs got an A+?!? They combined for 151 yards. We all know that you’ve been the most outspoken advocate for how great this group is. That’s a “B” performance if we are being real. They were fine. Can we please not do this all year? Make up fake grades to fit a narrative we are trying to pass through. Can we just agree, they were fine. 
 

The TEs were in “C” range.

Go watch the film and make your own grades, lol!

[Kirby Jackson]

3 minutes ago, GASabresIUFan said:

Inactive.

Oh, I see what you did there!! Creative!!

 

Let me ask again, Gabe had 8 catches for 201 yards and 4 TDs, what was the grade if this was an A+? 

2 minutes ago, MJS said:

Go watch the film and make your own grades, lol!

Got you fam:

QB: A+
WR: B

TE: C

OL: A-

RB: B-

Edited September 10 by Kirby Jackson

[GunnerBill]

6 minutes ago, RyanC883 said:

 

does Torrence look like he is regressing to you?  He does to me

 

I think as teams got tape on him they have exploited his weaknesses more as its gone on.